Wednesday, June 15, 2011

And he was driving on a suspended license in a car that was not his own to begin with...

A University of Oregon employee from the Business Affairs office said in an email to Portland TV station KATU that she rented the car to drive out of town because her car wasn’t running well and was leaking oil.

“Cliff and his friend offered to pay for it in full with cash if I let them use it the remainder of the weekend and informed me that only the licensed friend would be driving or else I wouldn’t have let them use it,” she wrote.

Early Sunday morning Harris was behind the wheel when the car was clocked at 118 miles per hour on an Oregon Interstate. Harris was ticketed "for driving with a suspended license and exceeding the speed limit in excess of 100 mph." Another Eugene TV station is reporting that two other football players were in the car.

It could be an NCAA violation giving Harris the car, but both the NCAA and the Pac-10 have been notified of what is going on. Head coach Chip Kelly is going to wait until the facts come out in the case before rendering just how many early morning sessions Harris will get as his punishment...

KATU-TV's Katy Brown has the rest of the story...

PM UPDATE: “Cliff’s future clearly is in Cliff’s hands,” Oregon head coach Chip Kelly said in a press release. “Earning an opportunity to represent the University of Ore-gon and this football program certainly rests far beyond a player’s ability on the field of play. Our behavior out of the spotlight often is more important and will be held to a higher standard. Until Cliff is able to conform to the same standards all of us must comply with, his status will remain unchanged.”

The HQ would like to see how this would compare to other discipline issues on campus...